Insider Buys Of The Week: Penn National, Scientific Games, Seagate And More

• Insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors.
• An activist investor returned to the buy window last week.
• Two gaming companies saw insiders buying shares.

Conventional wisdom says that insiders and 10 percent owners really only buy shares of a company for one reason -- they believe the stock price will rise and they want to profit from it. So insider buying can be an encouraging signal for potential investors, particularly with markets near all-time highs.

Here's a look at a few notable insider purchases reported in the past week.

Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology PLC STX saw ValueAct Holdings step up to the buy window again this past week. The total of more than 1.44 million shares of this data storage company acquired, at per-share prices ranging from $50.99 and $53.00, cost the advisor more than $75.26 million. The total stake was listed as about 26.37 million shares, out of more than 310 million outstanding.

Goldman Sachs recently became bullish on Seagate. The stock ended the week at $54.26, so the timing of these purchases seems fortunate. The stock has changed hands between $30.60 and $62.70 in the past year, and the analyst's mean price target is $58.33.

Energen

Energen Corporation EGN saw renowned activist investor Carl Icahn increase his stake again last week. The almost 950,000 shares of this Alabama-based energy company acquired, at per-share prices between $71.57 and $76.63, cost him around $70.83 million. That brought his stake to more than 7.66 million shares, or about 9.9 percent.

Icahn previously stated an interest in acquiring Energen, but it was bought by Diamondback Energy Inc FANG last week. Shares climbed more than 6 percent in the past week and closed Friday at $76.72 a share. That was a bit above the top of Icahn's purchase price range. Shares have traded as high as $78.48 in the past year, and the analyst's mean price target is $83.87.

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Scientific Games

At Scientific Games Corporation SGMS, two directors picked up a total of more than 180,000 shares of this Las Vegas-based gaming and lottery equipment maker. The share prices for these purchases ranged from $30.30 to $32.20, and the transactions totaled about $5.70 million altogether. Note that the CEO and CFO each bought 10,000 shares in the previous week.

The company and the Pennsylvania Lottery announced the launch of a virtual sports offering. The share price pulled back more than 6 percent last week and closed Friday at $29.55, so no quick gain for these directors. While the stock has traded as high as $62.80 a share in the past year, the analysts' mean price target is just $47.63.

Platform Specialty Products

Platform Specialty Products Corp PAH saw its general counsel and two directors step up to the buy window this past week. The total of more than 330,000 shares of this chemical products maker acquired, at per-share prices ranging from $11.94 to $12.12, cost them more than $3.97 million altogether. Note that those two directors and other insiders were buying shares earlier in the month.

The company also posted better-than-expected quarterly results earlier in the month. The stock ended the past week trading at $12.39, above the range of the mentioned purchases. The stock has changed hands between $9.09 and $12.94 in the past year, but the analyst's mean price target is up at $14.70.

Penn National Gaming

This past week, a Penn National Gaming, Inc PENN Chief Executive Officer Tim Wilmott bought 100,000 shares of this gaming and racing facilities operator at a per-share price of $30.85. That cost him over $3.08 million, and his stake was listed as less than 613,000 shares. More than 91 million shares are outstanding.

Penn National is taking steps to acquire Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. PNK. Its shares ended the week trading at $33.05, which represents around a 7 percent gain for Wilmott. The S&P 500 rose only fractionally last week. The stock's consensus price target was last seen at $38.00.